Introduction Brian Doran

Facing History and Ourselves is the greatest class I have ever taken. As you go through the class you learn so much information in a way unlike any other class. Trying to understand what this class is from my description is not possible and one must take the class and see for themselves how great this class truly is.  Before taking this class I was always hearing good things about it from everyone taking it including my brother, friends, and teammates. When you hear only positive things about something it has to be good so I decided to take the class.  I also knew that Mr. Gallagher was the teacher, I had him for sophomore history and he became my favorite teacher of all time. No teacher makes a connection with his students like Mr. Gallagher and this makes me want to focus and learn whatever he has to say.  Moving along, I am Brian Doran a 17 year-old senior at Westborough High School. I am one of three boys in my family and I fall in the middle.  I enjoy relaxing, hanging out with friends, going to the gym and most importantly playing lacrosse.  I am a pretty good student and enjoy learning about things that I am interested in and excel in these topics. Facing History and Ourselves is a class that I was very interested in.  The main focus of the class is not to learn a ton of factual information because there are no tests or quizzes. I feel the main focus of the class was to learn about who you are as a person and also about what causes things such as the Holocaust and by all means it doesn’t have to be to the severity of the holocaust. You learn how to be a moral human being and how to be accepting of everyone or everything. This class gives you a wealth of knowledge, information and skills if you are willing to let the course change you.

What Facing History Meant to Me. Brian Doran

What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me

            Facing History and Ourselves has changed my life as a person and a student. This change took the entire 1^st semester of my senior year in high school, slowly progressing as the class went on. As a student, during the course of this class I learned many things. Listening is one thing that many of us are not good at; Mr. Gallagher has made me a better listener. When other people in class are talking one should focus on what he/she is saying because it is the respectful thing to do.  Ignoring to do so makes it seem that what ever conversation you are having is more important than what the speaker around you is saying, little do you know what they are saying may be something you don’t know and could be a critical fact or piece of information. Being able to be a good listener is an extremely good quality to have.  It can help you gain knowledge or facts about something so that you can make an opinion about a situation because you now know the facts around it.  Another skill I picked up during this class is how to right a research paper.  Writing a research is an important skill to have especially with college coming up in the next couple of months. Using the information that Mr. Gallagher provided for us writing the paper was easy to do and after turning it in I had a better understanding of the man I researched, Oscar Schindler, and also the important steps that need to be taken while writing a research paper.  Taking this class I have learned so much about the Holocaust. Before I knew the common stuff that every high school student knows. After reading many documents and watching a number of films I was able to grasp how it happened and what happened during this horrible period in history.

            This class has changed me as a person, this change started in the first week of class.  Because this class is so different from others it is hard to explain how this change occurs and I would encourage everyone to take this class to fully understand what happens during this class.  One of the first lessons was about identity and what that means.  I learned how important my identity is, to myself.  Knowing who you are is the first step because once you know who you are you become in control of your life. The decisions you make can alter who you are but your identity should stay the same. Another thing I learned in this class is what bystanders, perpetrators, victims and resistance are and how they affect the world. These four words are key to understand while taking the course.  Without these three of these four words horrible things like the Holocaust would never have happened. Because in order for something so terrible to occur bystanders, perpetrators and victims are needed. With this knowledge I learned what one person can do to prevent a situation. I am more likely to react when I see something like bullying occurring, instead of being passive about it I will walk up and put an end to it. Being the resistance is something that is hard to do but after standing up for what is right there is know better feeling for you and the victim.  I have learned not to be judgmental because what does being judgmental mean. If you make a judgment about someone you don’t know you have made a mistake.  Before making an opinion about something or someone you need to know the facts and information around the topic. Before this class making a judgment on something or someone seemed like nothing to me, but I have taken in what I learned and no longer can I make a judgment and if I do I will give myself a dope slap. 

            A discussion that we had in class concerning the incident at Penn State a few months ago was a moment in this class that really meant something to me.  The way Mr. Gallagher set this discussion up made the majority of the class fail because we made a judgment without knowing the truth.  The first day of the discussion was an argument between what had happened and peoples opinions on what should or shouldn’t be done and what is and isn’t morally ok. I am guilty and making a judgment about the topic. However the next day we were given information concerning the topic in which we read and then later discussed. The topic we were discussing is not important to why this is meaningful; the part that is meaningful to me is that I learned how easy it is to make a judgment because it’s as simple as saying something to the class. What is hard to do is take the time to research a topic and then take a side in the argument. Even though this is hard to do taking the time to learn is an important thing for everyone to do and this discussion was very significant to me for that reason.         

One film that stood out for me was The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Watching this movie stirred up so much emotion and it became one of the most meaningful parts of the class.  The story of this young boy Bruno who is living in a Nazi family is insane.  His father is a very important man in the Nazi party and yet his son has no knowledge of what is going on during this period of time.  His relationship with Shmuel is so innocent and pure and it was an emotional rollercoaster watching there journey together.  Due to Bruno’s age he isn’t able to comprehend what is going on even though his backyard is a work camp. He says he wants to be with Shmuel inside the camp which seems outrageous but he doesn’t know better.  After Bruno sneaks into the camp and is gassed I was in disbelief. He and Shmuel were eight years old among adults and teenager who were being killed for something they didn’t choose.  This film really had a big impact because it is always hard to hear about a someone dying especially a young person and to see how the Jewish people old and young were treated is sickening.

            Recently in Facing History and Ourselves the class watched fifty minutes of what the American troops saw as they entered the concentration camps. This footage was horrifying to watch and impacted me greatly.  After a few minutes it all became real and I knew I wasn’t watching some Hollywood production.  These people on the screen were real and they were treated like garbage. Viewing this footage was sickening to me and I couldn’t keep my eyes on the screen because what I was seeing was so wrong and disturbing. I had to leave the room at one point to take a walk around the hall way to escape the horrible clips on the screen but when I left the images I saw were the only thing I could think of.  This footage will always be remembered and I believe it is something that everyone should see because it was what made it really real for me.

Works Cited

Works Cited

Corpses in the grave at Auschwitz. Google Images. Images. January 13, 2012.

Nazi SS Officers Scrap Book From Hell. Google Images. Images. January 13, 2012.

Penn State. Google Images .Images. January 13, 2012.

The Journey Scope and Sequence. Google Images. Images. January 13, 2012.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Google Images. Images. January 13, 2012.